Test-yumpu

RETRO First love
Michelle Morgan investigates how
Norma Jeane came to marry the boy
next door and why her burgeoning
career as Marilyn Monroe spelled the
end of their marriage
Marilyn
…becoming
Mrs Dougherty
Fom top: Norma
Jeane with mum
Gladys, who had
mental health
issues and
couldn’t look
after her; as a
teenager with
her ‘Aunt’ Ana
and family; with
first husband Jim
Left: Norma
Jeane as a
teenager.
Right: The couple
on their wedding
day in 1942.
Despite being
a ‘marriage of
convenience’ it
was a relatively
happy union
When we think about the
men Marilyn Monroe
married, the names Joe
DiMaggio and Arthur
Miller immediately spring to mind. But did you
know that long before either DiMaggio or Miller
got down on bended knee, Marilyn had another
husband?
James (Jim) Dougherty was the boy next door
when Marilyn (or Norma Jeane as she was then),
was growing up in Van Nuys, California. In and
out of foster homes and an orphanage throughout
her childhood, Norma Jeane had settled with
the Goddard family, but in 1942, her foster father
was offered an employment position out of state.
Unable to take Norma Jeane with them, and fearful
that it would mean another stint in the orphanage,
foster mother Grace Goddard approached her
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RETRO First love
neighbour, Ethel Dougherty, and the two hatched
a plan. Ethel’s son Jim had gone on several dates
with Norma Jeane in the past, so the two women
decided that it would make sense if the young
couple were married.
Norma Jeane and Jim were understandably
sceptical about the arrangement. Jim was five years
older than his would-be bride, and declared her too
young to marry. Norma Jeane – who was still only
15 at this point – said later that the proposal brought
her no pain or happiness. “It was like being retired
to a zoo,” she said.
SWEET SIXTEEN
After some gentle pushing and a series of dates,
both parties eventually agreed to the wedding, and
on June 19, 1942 – just weeks after her 16th birthday
– the young girl married her new husband, in the
home of family friends, Mr and Mrs Howell. In
order to marry, Norma Jeane dropped out of High
School, which was a decision that would forever
plague her. For the rest of her life she strived to
better herself with acting classes, night-school
courses and even a distance learning art lesson.
Despite the unconventional start, the marriage
between Norma Jeane and Jim was fairly typical.
There were visits with friends, dinners with
Jim’s parents, and his brothers were always keen
to spend time with the couple. Shortly after
the wedding, the brothers stocked the couple’s
cupboards with dozens of tinned goods. This
was to be a wedding present, but also turned into
something of a practical joke, when the brothers
removed the labels from every tin. For months
afterwards, dinner was something of a treasure
hunt, with Norma Jeane shaking each can, to try to
decipher what was inside.
Jim later revealed that Norma Jeane’s go-to meal
was carrots and peas, because she liked the colours.
However, she was not altogether suited to being a
young housewife and when he once enquired as to
why he’d been served raw fish, she surprised him
by clobbering him over the head with a trash can!
Jim was also shocked to come home one evening
and find Norma Jeane trying to persuade a cow to
come into their house. An avid animal lover, the
young woman had become concerned that the
creature was getting soaked in the rain, though Jim
refused to let the animal inside and sent it back to
the field.
A FAMILY AT WAR
While Norma Jeane was still very young and
unsure of her life as a homemaker, she did tell
her foster mother that married life was hard work
but fun, and she could not have chosen a better
person to be her husband. However, beneath the
surface there were jealousies on both sides, with
Norma Jeane envious of Jim’s former girlfriend,
and Jim disliking the attention she received while
sunbathing on the beach. Norma Jeane also ran
hot and cold on the idea of becoming a mother.
Having heard nightmare stories from friends, she
was terrified of becoming pregnant. This fear was
pushed aside when Jim was called up to fight for
his country and she begged him for a baby.
Knowing that this was not a good idea in the
current climate, Jim made sure that Norma Jeane
would not be alone by moving her in with his
parents before he left for overseas. In April 1944,
her mother-in-law,
Ethel, found a job
for Norma Jeane
at a local factory –
Radioplane – first
as a typist and then
as a parachute
inspector and
sprayer. Ironically,
it was this job
that led to Norma
Jeane being
discovered when
photographer
Norma Jeane
became a bride at
16. She and Jim
made the best of
their marriage but
she was too young
to be a housewife
– and destined for
greater things...
Far left: Norma
Jeane (second from
the right) in1942 at
a family gathering.
Left: As teenager in
1943. Her potential
was evident even at
this young age...
David Conover arrived to take photos of women
at work in the factory.
Conover immediately saw something
interesting in Norma Jeane and snapped
photos of her both inside and out of the
building. He showed the photos to several other
photographers and, just like that, Norma Jeane’s
life as a factory worker came to an end when
she was suddenly faced with the opportunity of
becoming a full-time model.
Ethel Dougherty was not keen on Norma
Jeane’s new direction – especially when it affected
her family life. The young woman was frequently
late for dinner and ignored family get-togethers.
When Jim came home on shore leave, she forgot
to pick him up from the bus station and was
hours late collecting him and his nephew from
the beach, when she temporarily lost her wedding
ring during a modelling shoot.
RUNAWAY BRIDE
Jim was fairly understanding of Norma Jeane’s
new career, but stressed that once he was home
from the war, they’d settle down and have
children. Faced with
such an ultimatum, the
now-model headed for
Las Vegas and quickly
divorced Jim before
he could put a stop to
her new-found dream.
Shortly after, she had
a screen test at 20th
Century Fox, changed
her name to Marilyn
Monroe and took the
first steps towards
becoming the world’s
most famous actress.
Despite the divorce,
Norma Jeane wondered
if she and Jim could
perhaps date each
other occasionally. Jim
justifiably turned her
down and met his exwife
on just a few more
occasions, such as when
sorting out ownership
of their car and other
possessions.
Jim later became a
policeman, remarried and had children, though
he never forgot his first wife – especially when her
movie career exploded and she was frequently
plastered all over magazines and newspapers.
At one point Norma Jeane apparently rang
Jim to say she’d become disenchanted with the
movies and wanted to come home to him, but
Jim refused and eventually sold a story about
their four-year marriage to a film magazine.
Marilyn was devastated by the betrayal and
rarely spoke about Jim in public, except to
describe their relationship as something of a
marriage of convenience.
When asked if he ever watched ex-wife
Marilyn’s movies, Jim told family and friends that
he was too busy to go to the cinema. However, he
confided to his nephew that while working the
night beat as a policeman, he would occasionally
drop into the movie theatre to watch her on the
big screen.
When faced with the devastating news of
Marilyn’s death in 1962, he turned to his new
wife and told her, “Say a prayer for Norma Jeane,
she’s dead.”
To celebrate the marriage, friends and family bought the
couple gifts of a cocktail set, coffee set, gold-coloured vases
and embroidered dish towels
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An epic snub
Carole Lombard
Scarlett
Michelle Morgan reveals the surprising
role Carole Lombard played in the
making of Gone With The Wind and the
behind-the-scenes tensions that could
have derailed the whole film
in waiting
In the late Thirties, the part
every actress wanted to
play was Scarlett O’Hara in
Gone with the Wind. Bette
Davis, Katharine Hepburn and Norma
Shearer were all touted for the role, but
one actress who wanted it more than
almost anyone, was Carole Lombard.
When Clark Gable was asked to take
the role of Rhett Butler, he balked at
the idea. “I didn’t want any part of it,”
he said. “Everybody this side of Tibet
had read the book and everybody had
different ideas about Rhett, and it was
a cinch I couldn’t please everybody.”
One person he could please,
however, was long-term partner Carole
Lombard. If Gable was to play Rhett
in the movie, not only would it mean
he could finally afford to divorce his
estranged wife, Rhea, but he and
Carole could act together for the first
time since No Man of her Own in 1932.
SNUBBED
Clark eventually agreed and was
loaned by MGM to Gone with the Wind
producer David O. Selznick. Lombard
had a three-film deal with Selznick and
she wasted no time in approaching
him about starring as Scarlett.
Unfortunately for Carole, Selznick
told her that the reputation she had as
a screwball comedienne, meant that
she could not be considered for the
role. This was a blow for the actress,
especially as she was currently starring
in the Selznick production Made For
Each Other, a comedy-drama that had
taken her away from the screwball
roles she was so famous for.
In early 1939, Selznick announced
that young British actress Vivien
If you’re a fan of Carole
Lombard, BFI Southbank
kick off the New Year with
a month-long season dedicated
to the actress and her films.
Running throughout
January there are screenings
of many of her films including:
Twentieth-Century (1934),
Fast and Loose (1930), No Man
of Her Own (1932), Hands
Leigh had won the role of Scarlett and
Carole sent a heartfelt telegram to him,
exclaiming how thrilled she was to hear
the news. Selznick was delighted and
brazenly instructed Carole’s publicist
to release the note to the media.
Evidently, while she was not considered
good enough for the role of Scarlett,
Carole was certainly great for publicity
purposes. The actress took revenge –
whether deliberate or not – by refusing
to attend the preview of the Selznick
production, Made for Each Other and
then she and Gable (who was by now
shooting Gone with the Wind), snubbed
an appearance at the 1939 Academy
Awards, which Selznick had hoped to
turn into a publicity event.
On March 29, 1939, during a few days
off from shooting the movie, Clark Gable
and Carole Lombard were married in
a small, private ceremony. The filming
of Gone with the Wind then continued
for much of 1939, before finally it was
finished and due to be premiered at a
gala event on December 15. While David
O. Selznick expected Carole Lombard
to attend in support of her husband’s
movie, he was shocked to discover that
she had no such plan. According to the
actress, as she had no role in the film,
she was not at any liberty to be there.
PUBLICITY MACHINE
Selznick was furious, particularly when
one of his colleagues telegrammed to
inform him that if Lombard was not
in attendance, the disappointment
by filmgoers would be tremendous.
Selznick refused to beg the actress to go,
and by this time he had bigger problems
– Clark Gable, hater of all things
publicity-related – absolutely refused
to travel to Atlanta for the premiere.
Across The Table (1935), Swing
High, Swing Low (1937), True
Confession (1937), My Man
Godfrey (1936), Bolero (1934),
Mr & Mrs Smith (1941), Nothing
Sacred (1937), In Name Only
(1939), Vigil In The Night (1940)
and her final film To Be or Not
to Be (1942).
Also, on Tuesday January
14 there will be a fascinating
Carole was once married to actor William
Powell, her co-star in My Man Godfrey (1936)
Luckily for Selznick, the potential
disaster was thwarted thanks to Carole,
who persuaded her husband to attend
and then went with him because she
knew he’d never turn up without her
encouragement.
The evening was a magnificent
success and Carole even agreed to say
a few words to the chanting crowds.
“I’m so happy to be here with you all,”
she said. “I’m going to let Mr Gable do
the talking for us, but I love all of you.”
The movie was a success, but it also
put a tremendous strain on Carole’s
relationship with David O. Selznick.
Clark Gable had grown to resent the
producer during production and this
led to Selznick buying Carole out
of her agreement to make another
movie with his production company.
It no doubt also helped sour her
relationship with her agent – Selznick’s
brother Myron – and she fired him
during 1940.
Despite any negativity between
the parties, when Carole Lombard
tragically died in January 1942, David
wrote to Gable to express his deep
sorrow. According to the producer,
he had never met such an inspiring
person, and he would miss her for the
rest of his life.
This sentiment was echoed the
world over and it seems clear that
without Carole’s encouragement
behind the scenes, Gone with the
Wind could have been a very different
movie indeed.
n Michelle Morgan is the
author of Carole Lombard:
Twentieth-Century Star,
published by The History
Press, priced £20
talk, ‘Carole Lombard and the
Birth of Screwball’. Season
programmer Miriam Bale will
explore how the history of
screwball comedy is linked to
Carole’s real-life personality
as a free-spirited, glamorous
tomboy.
For more information or
to book visit www.bfi.org.uk/
whatson or call 0207 928 3232
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